Telephone-meter.



(lo lodel.)

Patented Apr. 30, l90l. D. M. BLISS.

TELEPHONE Hafen.

(Applicaton led Oct. 1, 1900.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DONALD M. BLISS, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTO- MATIC TELEPHONE METER COMPANY, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

TELEPHONE-METER.

SPECIFICATION forming peet of Letters Patent nia-673,672, ueteei April 3o, 190i. Application tied october 1, 1900. sereine. 31,662. remodel .To all whom it may oncerm- Be it known that I, DONALD M. BLIss, of Lowell,county of Middlesex,and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Telephone-Meters, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. The present invention relates to a tele- Io phone-meter or instrument for recording at the telephone itself the extent of use of said telephone. l

The meter or registering device may be of any suitable or usual kind and is operated in any suitable Way, preferably by electric currents from a source located at the central office. The present invention relates, mainly, to what may be termed the meter-controlling zo devices,7 which are arranged, in accordance with the invention, so that the meter is placed in condition to operate only when a signal is sent from the instrument where the meter is located, the meter being prevented from op- 2 5 eration at any instrument where a signal has been received. Eachsubscriber, therefore,

will have recorded at his instrument the number'of vtimes or length of time he has used his instrument at his own volition, there being 3o no record of the time he has used his instrument when called by other subscribers.

In accordance with this invention the meter-controlling device is arranged to be operated in response to the operation of the sig- 3 5 naling devices, the sending of a signal from the instrument resulting in such operation of the controlling device that the meter is placed in condition to act, while the receiving of a signal at any instrument resultsin such an 4o operation of the controller that the meter cannot act. l As herein shown, the vmeter isadapted to be operated electrically, as by electromagnets located in an electric circuit, the meter thus 'being readily controlled by opening or closing the said circuit, it being obvious that When` the circuit is open the meter cannot operate. T he controller, therefore, may be a circuit-closer arranged to be operated to open 5o the meter-circuit when a signal is received 1899, Serial No. 738,470.

and to close the meter-circuit when a signal is sent. As herein shown, the said circuitcontroller is arranged to be electrically operated, being under the influence of two elec tromagnets, one of which is located in the circuit of the current which produces incoming signals and the other being located in the circuit of the current generated to produce outgoing signals.

A further feature of the invention consists 6o in secondarily controlling the meter-circuit by the gravity-hook or its equivalent, so that even after a signal is sent out and the controlling device operated the meter cannot operate unless the receiver is taken down. 65

Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the invention, and Fig. 2 a detail showing a modification. A

For convenience the devices embodying the invention are shown as applied to an instru- 7o ment having the ordinary magneto-generator for signaling purposes, it being understood, however, that the invention may be equally Well applied tothe central energy or other signaling system.

The meter @,which is conventionally shown as a train of Wheels, may be operated by means of a pawl a2, connected with an'armature 0,3, under the iniiuence of an electromagnet b, contained in the meter-circuit which is con- 8o nected with the line, the meter in this case being operated by a slow alternating or pulsating current superimposed upon the line, in accordancev with the method described in a prior application filed by me November 7, v

When this method is used, the inaudible altern ating current is superimposed on the line after two instruments are connected yand while the instruments are in use, the devices embodying the present in- 9o lvention controlling the meter-circuits, so that only one meter (the one at the calling-subscribers station) is aifected. Y lt is not, however, essential that this method should be employed, as any source of energy which can be controlled by the devices embodying the invention may be used. The armature a3 is arranged to be polarized, so as to vibrate in response to alternating currents, .the said armature being pivoted to the core-of an elec- 10o 67eme tromagnet 0.4, arranged to be energized by the local battery a5, as will be hereinafter described.

rlhe meter-operating circuit which contains the electromagnet b comprises a conductor b2, leading from one conductor A of the main line through said electromagnet, and a conductor b3, having a terminal b4, which is arranged to be connected, by means of a switch c, with a conductor b5, leading to the other wire B of the main line. The meter-circuit, therefore, is only completed when the switch cis in position to connect the said terminal b4 with the conductorb5 and when closed is bridged across the line, so that currents passing over the line will pass through this circuit. The metercircuit, moreover, is independent of all the other circuits at the instrument where it is located. To control the meter, therefore, it is only necessary to provide the switch c with operating means responsive to the signalingcurrents to open or close the said switch in response to incoming or outgoing signals, respectively,and to maintain it opened or closed, as the case may be, during the use of the telephone. As herein shown, the said switch is pivotally supported upon a frame c2 and consists of a rocker-arm c3, which is under the influence of two electromagnets d and e, one of which causes the said rocker to move in one direction and the other of which causes the said rocker to move in the opposite direction. The said rocker is arranged to remain in either position when uninliuenced by the electro1nagnets,being shown as provided with a weight c4, adapted to cross the center of gravity each time the rocker moves. The electromagnet d has a greater number of ampere-turns than electromagnet e and is contained in a circuit consisting of a conductor d2, leading from the main line A, a conductor d3, leading from the electromagnet to one terminal of the generator d, and a conductor d5, leading from the other terminal of said generator, through the usual switch d, to the conductor B. When, therefore, a signal is sent from the instrument byoperating the magneto d4, the electromagnet d becomes energized, causing the rocker c3 to move to the position shown, thereby closing the metercircuit, which will remain closed after the current has left the magnet d, owing to the weight o4 or equivalent device. A portion of the current from the magneto is also free to pass through the magnet e, which, however, has fewer ampere-turns than the magnet d and is overpowered thereby, causing the meter-circuit to be closed.

rlhe electromagnet e, which is arranged to move the rocker c3 into such position as to break the meter circuit, is included in a branch of a circuit e2 c3 e4, extending from the main wire A to the main wire B and including the call-bell e6. When, therefore, a current is sent from the central oice to ring the said call-bell, the electromagnet e will become energized, throwing the rocker c3 in the direction opposite to that shown and breaking the meter-circuit. The circuit through the magnet d is always broken at the switch except when the magneto d4 is in use, so that none of the incoming signaling-current will pass through the magnet d to resist the attracting energy of the magnet e. It will be seen, therefore, that the meter-controlling device is so arranged that the meter can operate only after a signal has been sent from the instru ment and cannot possibly operate after a signal has been received.

In order to prevent the operation of the meter except when the telephone is actually in use, it is desirable to control the meter also by the gravity-hook or equivalent device so that the meter cannot operate unless the receiver has been taken down.

As has been stated, if a pulsating or alternating current is used to operate the meter the armature ai must be polarized, and when the local battery a5 is utilized for polarizing the magnet it is obvious that the magnet will only be polarized when the receiver is off the hook, since the local battery is cut out when the receiver is on the hook. The same result may be obtained, however, as indicated in Fig. 2, by including in the meter-circuit switch-terminals b3@ Z931, which are adapted to be bridged by the gravity-hook f, so that the meter-circuit can only be completed when the controllingdevice has been properly operated and the receiver has been lifted from the hook. While this feature is not essential to the present invention, it effectually prevents any accidental operation of the meter after the receiver is hung up if the meter-current should be left on the line by the operator at the central oliice, and it also adapts the device for use on party lines where the signaling-current passes through a number of instruments on one line.

It is not intended to limit the invention to the specific construction and arrangement herein shown, since modifications may obviously be made without departing from the invention.

I claim- 4l. A telephone-meter located at the telephone instrument and provided with operating mechanism; a controlling-circuit for said operating mechanism; and a circuit-controller for said circuit operating in response to the operation of the signaling devices, said circuit-controller being selectively influenced by incoming and outgoing signals respectively and adapted to remain in either position until again acted upon, substantially as described.

2. A telephone-meter located at the telephone instrument; a circuit for current to operate said meter; a circuit-controller for said circuit adapted to operate in response to the operation of the signal-sending device at the instrument where the meter is located to close said circuit and to operate in response to the current which operates the signal-receiving device at the said instrument to break said loo Icircuit, said controller remainingin either position until again inuenced, as set forth.

3. A telephone-meter located at the instrument; a circuit for current to operate the meter; a circuit-controller adapted to be operated by the signali ngcurrents to close the said circuit in response to the outgoing signalingeurrent and to open the said circuit in response to the incoming signaling-current,

said controller remaining in either position until again operated; and means controlled by the gravity-hook or its equivalent for preventing the operation of the meter except when the receiver is in use, as set forth.

4. In a telephone-meter located at the ininstrument; a circuit containg electromagnets DONALD M. BLISS..

Witnesses NANCY P. FORD, HENRY J. LIvERMoRE. 

